The science of enlightenment
by Shinzen Young · first published 2016
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical, rigorous overview of meditation that draws on several traditions and how they overlap; a good starting point for beginners and those wanting a teacher's clear, agnostic framing.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"A guide to mindfulness meditation explores how to use it to enhance cognitive capacities, one's connection with the world, and the richness of all life's experiences,"--NoveList.
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…through ten stages, from novice to very advanced. I'm still close to the beginning, but the instructions in the first several chapters have helped me make far more progress than I ever had before. The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young is also quite good, with more of an emphasis on insight rather than concentration meditation. There's also the classic Mindfulness in Plain English. I do use one app. It lets me set…
on “Headspace vs. Calm: A Meditation-App Battle That’s Anything but Zen” ↗You should read Shinzen Young's Science of Enlightenment.
on “Ask HN: How to increase your mental focus?” ↗…experiences. The difference is they let those experiences go instead of chasing them or attaching much significance to them. See for example the later chapters of "The Mind Illuminated", or the excellent "Science of Enlightenment" audio talk by Shinzen Young.
on “One hour of slow breathing changed my life” ↗…space. But I also have worked with a lot of other techniques for a few days or a few months. I second the recommendation for The Mind Illuminated. It's a fantastic book. I'd also add Shinzen Young's The Science of Enlightenment. My main recommendation, though, is to do what I'm doing: join a community that's devoted to practice. There's a depth and rigor that comes from that sort of accountability that I haven't been able to…
on “Ask HN: Mindfulness for Hackers” ↗Shinzen Young, in The Science of Enlightenment, posits a strong time dilation effect from regularly meditating. After experimenting, I found this to be true, and have at least doubled my subjective life span.
on “Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?” ↗The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young has an interesting overview of multiple traditions and how they overlap in a lot of ways.
on “The Varieties of Mystical Experience” ↗The karmic traditions developed this most completely and thoroughly. You don't need to buy into the supernatural claims to benefit from them. A great starting point can be Shinzen Young's The Science of Enlightenment and/or Sam Harris's Waking Up. After that, you might look into Why Buddhism is True or The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or Mindfulness in Plain English. The Healthy Gamer Youtube channel also has great…
on “Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough” ↗- Tetris: The Games People Play by Box Brown - Tibet, Tibet by Patrick French - Maya: A Novel by CW Huntington, Jr - The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young - Flask Web Development by Miguel Grinberg - Buddha's Diet by Tara Cottrell - A Feast of Vultures by Josy Joseph - Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection by John Man - Chasing…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗